Looking out my Backdoor: The wrath of Ralph

Rule No. 1: Never write when sick.

Rule No. 2: Do whadevah ya gotta do.

It’s a virus, I’m sure. Caught it from a hug from Josue, who thought he’d eaten bad mangoes. Four days ago. Mangoes good. Virus bad. Hugs good. I’m not going to live under a blister-pak.

I twist myself into knots in order to avoid paying obeisance to the toilet god, Ralph. Fortunately, neither my stomach nor my mind felt hunger that afternoon. I felt listless. I should have seen the clues.

Next day, you couldn’t have forced food past my lips. The very idea clenched my gut and enhanced my mental picture o...